PM2000 Riving Knife Adjustment

[Eric Garner]

I'm looking for anyone who can give me tips on how to quickly adjust the riving knife on a PM2000 table saw. I realized mine was out of alignment and can't seem to get it properly aligned.

The manual seems to be lacking.... "note where the knife is misaligned and adjust the 4 set screws...." Problem is I've tried adjusting them and can't seem to get the knife to line up behind the blade. If I adjust the screws too far in I have to loosen the bolt that secures the clamping lever in order to get the knife back in and this seems to negate any adjustments I've done.

Anyone else have a hard time adjusting their knife?

[Mitchell Garnett]

I'm not going to be much help but I thought I'd let you know that it took me at least 45 minutes of fiddling to get mine adjusted. It was the only thing that wasn't set up right out of the box for the most part.

And I agree the manual wasn't helpful with respect to adjusting the riving knife.

[Charles Krieger]

I have just adjusted the riving knife on my PM2000. What a pain. There are six screws involved in the setting of the riving knife just to get it co-planar with the saw blade. I didn't even look into the distance to blade adjustment. The first two screws on my PM2000 are Torx #25 and they are located closest to the handle hole. There are four screws at the corners of the adjustable pad that are hex 3mm.

Ok the fun begins. First of all the screws cannot be accessed when the riving knife is in place. Note to Powermatic: It would be nice to have at least four holes in the riving knife to clear the screws for adjustment with the knife in place.

Second. The clamping plate that clamps the riving knife to the adjustable pad is in the way of the torx 25 screws even though there are holes through it. These two screws are essentially locking screws that must be loosened to make any adjustments. Once the adjustments are made you must tighten these two screws to clamp down the adjustable pad.

Ok so you want to adjust the tilt of the riving knife? Lets just say that all four screws interact to make this adjustment. Loosen all four screws the same amount and you will move the pad to your right as you are standing in back of the saw making the adjustment. to tilt the top of the blade adjust only the top two screws in or out. Tightening the top two screws will tilt the riving knife to your left as you stand behind the saw making the adjustment. Of course you have no idea what you have just done until you put the riving knife in and clamp the clamp handle down.

Are you beginning to get the idea? Working in the confined space is not easy, and putting on and taking off the riving knife 20 times is tiring or at least boring.

I would really like to see how this adjustment is made at the factory. I'd bet they have a fixture that doesn't have to be removed when the screws are being adjusted. No wonder they don't explain how to do this adjustment in the manual.

These complaints aside, the Powermatic 2000 is a great saw. I am very happy with mine.

[Jim O'Dell]

This thread makes me wonder how the other brands adjust their riving knives. How do you adjust for height of the knife? Or is that not possible? Jim.

[Mike Sandman]

I have a Jet Deluxe Xacta and the design of the riving knife is similar to the P2000 as far as I can see. The knife was out of adjustment laterally when I got the saw and it took some fiddling with 4 set screws in tight quarters to get it right -- probably the most time consuming of the various small adjustments that were needed to set up the saw.

The gap between the blade and the knife was set correctly, but it too requires some fiddling with the set screws on the mounting block for the knife.

Here are two images from the Jet manual; perhaps they're legible enough to see how both the latera and gap adjustments are made on the Jet (and presumably similarly on the Powermatic).

Mike Sandman


89023

89024

[Charles Krieger]

I am only familiar with the PM2000 and certainly not an expert on it. I have no idea how other manufacturers deal with the riving knife.

On the PM2000 the riving knife is mounted to a plate that bolts to the arbor with bolts surrounding the arbor shaft. Any movement of the arbor, tilt or height, results in a corresponding movement of the riving knife. The mounting plate that attaches to the arbor is slotted for some adjustment. I have never loosened those bolts and I cannot say whether the height can be adjusted.

On another post I read that someone has the riving knife sans the saw guard and that it allows non through cuts to be made and that the knife stays just below the top of the blade. Sounds like it works as it should.

If you have further concerns about the PM2000 I suggest that you call Powermatics service rep. They should be able to answer your questions.

I will probably call them myself later this week to find out how they make the adjustments that I made. Two plus hours spent to adjust the lateral movement of the knife is unreasonable.

This adjustment aside, I love the PM2000. Great saw.

[John Hedges]

It is a ROYAL pain in the arse. I spent a few hours getting mine perfectly aligned. It was way out of alignment from the factory. I ended up taking the whole thing apart and figuring out how it works, which I didn't mind because I like to know my tools inside and out, but it took a while to get it right on all planes, but now it is perfect and I never have to mess with it again, and I think about and appreciate it every time I use the saw.

[Jerrold Fernandez]

Adjusting the riving knife on my Jet Deluxe Xacta was by far the most mind numbing experience bar none. Imagine taking the riving knife off and putting it back on about 10-15 times while trying to squeeze your hand into a tiny space to reach 4 tiny set screws. From the factory, it slightly favored the right side of the blade, causing a slight pinch between the fence. I used a 6 inch engineers square and a steel straight edge as my references. I started first by adjusting the riving knife perpendicular to the table. Afterwards I adjusted it laterally to be in line with the blade by adjusting all 4 set screws equally in or out. Took some time but it shouldn't be something that should have to be done very often after this.

[Steve Sawyer]

Boy, I'm glad that the RK on my Deluxe XACTA came from the factory right on the money. This does NOT sound like a fun way to spend a couple of hours in the shop...

[David Milligan]

Thanks for your post. I bought a PM2000 around a month ago and have been having a devil of a time trying to adjust the riving knife, which was way out of alignment. I had thrown up my hands and just shimmed the thing out with some brass shim stock, which worked, but I wasn't happy about it. The key was info about the two torx screws holding the block in place. Once I got the over-tightened set screws loose and then the over-tightened torx screws loose I started making some headway and finally got it aligned. After installing and removing the riving knife about 50 times, of course, and tearing up both hands in the tight space. What a miserable adjustment mechanism.

Anyway, thanks for your help.

[Robert Hayward]

Do you guys know this is a ~9 1/2 year old thread ?

With that said, not quite a year ago I got a brand new PM2000 and went through riving knife adjustment madness. Fifty times on and off ??? That was the first day for me. I wanted the knife to be exactly behind the blade, not super close. How hard can it be to adjust a some screws to align a thin piece of metal I kept asking myself. I even started thinking maybe the SS crowd was right, maybe I should have bought that instead. To this day when I have to remove the knife to do a dado or put the Segeasy sled setup on the saw I almost have an anxiety attack thinking the knife may not go back on in the correct position.

Bob

[Justin Ludwig]

I used a crowbar and block of wood to realign mine.

[Charles Krieger]

Robert Hayward is a name out of my past. Do you or did you live in the San Joaquin Valley? Have a brother named Steve? If so I would love to reconnect with you!

[Mike Henderson]

This thread makes me wonder how the other brands adjust their riving knives. How do you adjust for height of the knife? Or is that not possible? Jim.

I don't remember how I did it, but I had a problem with my riving knife being too close to the blade on my SawStop and it was very easy to adjust. That problem was several years ago and I don't have a clue how I adjusted it.

Mike

[Robert Hayward]

Robert Hayward is a name out of my past. Do you or did you live in the San Joaquin Valley? Have a brother named Steve? If so I would love to reconnect with you!

Sorry, was not me. My family name comes from Canada. I was born in Michigan and have lived my entire adult life in the Tampa Bay area. Never did like the cold, even when a kid.